WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Luke Altmyer threw for a career-high 390 yards, Hank Beatty had 186 yards receiving and Kaden Feagin added two TD runs to lead No. 22 Illinois past Purdue 43-27 on Saturday.
The Fighting Illini (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) used their first conference road win to retain the Cannon Trophy for the first time since last beating its border rival in back-to-back seasons in 2001 and 2002.
Altmyer was 19-for-22 passing with a touchdown throw to Beatty, who amassed his career-high yardage on just five receptions including that 62-yard TD catch. Ca’Lil Valentine ran for 92 yards and a touchdown. The Illini finished with 507 total yards.
“I’ve been in this business a long time and had a lot of quarterbacks,” Illinois coach Bret Bielema said. “And this guy is as good as I’ve ever had.”
Ryan Browne went 30 of 50 with 302 yards and one TD pass. He also ran for a score as the Boilermakers (2-3, 0-2) lost their third in a row. Antonio Harris and Devin Mockobee also had TD runs. Michael Jackson III caught 14 of the 17 passes thrown his direction for 94 yards.
The Illini took control with a 27-point second quarter that included two David Olano field goals — on the first and last plays of the quarter.
All the Boilermakers could muster amid that scoring flurry was a 60-yard TD pass from Browne to Corey Smith to cut the deficit to 24-14 with 1:13 left in the half.
“It’s frustrating because I thought our offense, at least they kept us in the game the first half,” Purdue coach Barry Odom said. “But we didn’t do anything defensively well enough to win a game against anyone. Credit to Illinois, they have a good team and good players. But for us to get where we want to go, we have a long ways to go.”
Illinois sealed the victory with two more Olano field goals in the second half followed by Feagin’s 1-yard plunge with 1:19 left in the third to make it 40-21.
Olano finished with five field goals, the most by an Illinois player since October 2001.
“To be where we are right now — got five in the good column, one in the bad column,” Bielema said. “But I kind of like where we’ve put ourselves.”
The takeaway
Illinois: The dominant second quarter swung the game, but the Illini struggled to close it out in part because they had to settle for so many field goals. That needs to be fixed — and fast. They still managed to beat a rival, keep the trophy and should continue climbing in the poll.
Purdue: The Boilermakers offense has shown it can score, even in these last two games against ranked foes. The defense, though, again got gashed by one big play after another. Purdue has now yielded 132 points over its last three games despite stiffening in the second half Saturday.
Injury report
The Illini opted to keep injured center Josh Kreutz on the bench and instead went with TJ McMillen. Kreutz could have played in an emergency but wasn’t needed. Receiver Alexander Capka-Jones was injured in the first half, and Valentine injured his left leg in the third quarter. Both returned.
Purdue left guard Jalen St. John was taken from the medical tent to the locker room on a golf cart with an undisclosed injury just before halftime. He did not return and was replaced by Hank Purvis.
Up next
Illinois: Hosts No. 1 Ohio State next Saturday.
Purdue: Visits Minnesota next Saturday.
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